Facebook used for ‘witch hunts’ to identify anti-regime Bahrain protestors

Facebook was used to carry out ‘witch hunts’ of anti-regime protesters in Bahrain, a new documentary has claimed.

One page on the social network was used to whip up a ‘virtual lynch mob’ to track down a 20-year-old woman identified as a demonstrator, the Al Jazeera English film found.

The page asked thousands to participate in ‘defaming the honour’ of the 20-year-old, identified as Ayat Al Qurmezi. According to the film, masked commandos later arrived at her family home and took her away.

Ms Al Qurmezi’s mother said: ‘This is the first time something like this has happened. Young girls taken from their homes, arrested and we don’t know where they are.’

The film, called Shouting In The Dark, showed another page of pictures of demonstrators, some checked with a red tick, apparently showing that individual had been arrested.

Other pages urged visitors to ‘write the traitor’s name and workplace and let the government take care of the rest’.

The 50-minute documentary, to be screened tonight, was shot by a journalist who spent three months undercover in Bahrain.